Clubhouses as Essential Communities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Mental Health Research
• Community Psychology

Background:

• Clubhouses are physical spaces providing support for individuals with Serious and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI).
• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift from in-person to virtual platforms for these communities.
• Maintaining social connection and support is crucial for individuals with SPMI, especially during crises.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of virtual Clubhouse communities on member well-being during the early COVID-19 pandemic.
• To assess the relationship between engagement in virtual Clubhouses and members' self-reported health.
• To determine the effectiveness of rapid adaptation to virtual platforms by Clubhouse programs.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative study involving 289 Clubhouse members across 19 countries.
• Weekly self-report measures of Clubhouse engagement, social contact, and well-being.
• Repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to analyze changes over time.

Main Results:

• Members reporting high levels of engagement in virtual Clubhouses showed higher mental and physical health ratings.
• These positive health ratings were sustained over the study period for highly engaged members.
• Low engagement was associated with lower reported mental and physical health outcomes.

Conclusions:

• The virtual Clubhouse model is effective in supporting the well-being of individuals with SPMI.
• High engagement in online recovery communities is linked to better mental and physical health outcomes.
• Clubhouses demonstrated successful and rapid adaptation to virtual service delivery during the pandemic.